By taking the majority stake in Flipkart, Walmart has committed itself to bearing losses in the medium term in a desperate gamble to thwart Amazon’s rise in India. The casualty will be the small retail business sector, which supports a large volume of self-employed and low-paid workers.

The argument in the wake of the Walmart-Flipkart deal, that having large multinationals in the sphere serves consumers’ interest not only ignores the plight of local producers but is also analytically unsound. “Consumers” are not an entity distinct from the displaced producers and will get affected adversely over time.

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